• I am not an actor. Never wanted to be. I’ve acted in things but would never classify myself as such since every time I act in something, it’s really the slightest variation of just me. However, just this week, I actually did research for a role for the first time in my life after Matt Vita, comedy’s number one creator of offbeat opportunities, generously suggested I take part in his pal Harmon Leon’s Joke-E-Oke show. In said show, each comic is assigned an impersonation for the first of three rounds (if you advance). I was given Andrew Dice Clay. I’ve never been a huge fan of his. All I really knew were the dirty nursery rhymes, but I wanted to really give it my all for once. So, I queued up Dice’s 1990 special at Madison Square Garden and watched. It’s a wild hour opening with a clip where a woman way out of his league will do anything to be with him, followed by racist, homophobic, misogynist, sexist bits all punctuated with an “OHHH!” at the end and closing with him getting the girl. The reaction shots of audience members are hilarious. They go crazy for nearly every punch and “OHH!” I even heard a joke that I remember hearing way back when I started doing stand up in 2003 that I thought was original back then at The Comedy Spot in Phoenix (DM me if you want to know the joke- not suitable for print). Whatever there is to be said about his audacious act, you can’t deny he had swagger. Honestly, I couldn’t stop talking like him this Thursday. It’s addictive. When the show came along I brought the bravado as best I could as old Dice (I call him “Of Dice and Men”). It was tough to stand out though because Matt Vita was also playing Dice and doing a much more committed version. Somehow, I made it through the first round as old ADC and ended up impersonating Dave Chappelle in the second round. Understandably, the judges (Todd Montesi playing a name-dropping D-Lister, Vita as Dice and Chris Griggs with the sharpest Norm Macdonald I’ve seen this side of Norm himself) dropped me. Will Purpura took home the trophy doling out Don Rickles insults in the final. Anyhow, the most important nugget of wisdom here is that this is a truly unique show that all comics/actors should stretch their muscles and try out and audience members should make it appointment viewing. Harmon has created something really fun. If you want to see this particular episode, check the link in the comments.
• I’m not sure if I’ve ever met Nick Skardarasy (comedy does that) but somehow we are Facebook friends. Since we became friends, I’ve noticed updates about a quarantine special he was shooting within his apartment complex called “Thin Walls” with folks that are technically within his quarantine pod as they are all his neighbors. This week, I had a chance to catch it and it’s brilliantly executed. In addition to a solid half hour of comedy (the joke about his girlfriend’s religion being “Disney” was an excellent observation) complete with callbacks, lively act outs and knowing nods to his neighbors/odd circumstances in which it’s filmed, the half hour is a fantastic portrait of a community. Not only do we get Nick’s performance, we essentially get a mini-documentary featuring all the people in his life discussing their experiences in quarantine and relationship to the building. I barely know my next door neighbor’s name (pretty sure it’s Trudy, has a big dog and subscribes to the Wall Street Journal) but I feel like I know Nick’s community now. Nothing better than a slight variation on what a special can be and this is one of the best twists on the format I’ve seen in a minute. To check it for yourself, the link can be found below.
• In my off hours, I watch and listen to too many TV shows, movies and podcasts. This is what I spent my time paying attention to this week instead of writing, directing or performing comedy:
“Pen15” (2020): Along with “Eighth Grade,” this show is helping elevate the genre of middle school cringe to an art form. In this sitcom’s recently released second season, Anna (Anna Konkle) and Maya (Maya Erskine), two 33-year-old women fully transform themselves into middle schoolers and act alongside 12 and 13-year-olds playing it completely straight. They never wink at the camera and acknowledge how absurd it is that they’re playing tweens; they live the bold, emotional lives that those entering puberty face on a day-to-day basis. This second season, comprised of seven episodes, is intentionally less funny than the first focusing more on slice of life storylines like the awkwardness of middle school pool parties, a girl bullying them into being their friends and buying her way into the “Best Friends” superlative, a school play that pits techies vs. actors (the scene with the glitter toss is one of the best I’ve seen in any TV show this year no question), a young boy discovering his sexuality and divorce. That’s not to say there aren’t outwardly joke-y episodes like the one where the two leads join the wrestling squad to get closer to the boys or another where they summon the powers of a real estate agent’s business card to practice witchcraft. It should also be noted that there are numerous AOL Instant Messenger sequences which bring back memories of lazy summer days. On top of that, everyone says, “Sup.” Even the pizza they eat at parties reminded me of sixth grade. IF YOU WENT TO MIDDLE SCHOOL EVER, THIS IS THE NOSTALGIA TRIP YOU DIDN’T KNOW EXISTED (Streaming on Hulu).
“Mauvais Sang” (1986): I think “Holy Motors” is the best movie of the 2010s. If you haven’t seen it, I have this theory that it’s the inverse “Truman Show” about the people we see in our lives on the street that never meet and how they’re all sort of giving a performance. Let’s leave it at that. Since I went to see that movie on back to back days in 2012, I’ve had the director Leos Carax’s canon on my list of things to see and this week, I sat down and saw his second film “Mauvais Sang” which Anna taught me translates into “Bad Blood.” It’s a caper film where the heist isn’t what’s important (this band of criminals is actually after a vaccine); it’s all about the interpersonal relationships between those about to commit the crime. The lead in the film, Denis Lavant, is the star of “Holy Motors” as well. This performance isn’t quite as elastic (he plays nine parts in “HM!”) but is certainly odd and Chaplin-esque with magic tricks that reinvent what you can do with your frame. He even dates future French starlets Juliette Binoche and Julie Delpy in the film. It’s like the French “Dazed and Confused.” Everyone’s in it. The movie is famous for a scene where Lavant runs the streets to David Bowie’s “Modern Love” which Noah Baumbach aped for “Frances Ha” but man, Carax has so many more tricks up his sleeve. There are bizarro, left field choices like having all the actors drive around shirtless which is so strange you can’t help but laugh, intimate close ups that make standard coverage look painterly and one of the coolest parachuting sequences that I’m still wondering how they shot. This basically feels like the best film school movie of all time. FOR FANS OF THE ABSURD OR FRENCH AUTEURS (Streaming on Amazon Prime through MUBI; it’s a foreign film channel you can cop a free seven-day-trial for and then cancel right away).
“Breakfast at Tiffany’s” (1961): The DVD for this movie has been sitting at our apartment for years but Anna and I never actually fired it up in the old DVD drive. I honestly had no idea what it’s about. Having seen it now, I believe it’s about a socialite escort called Holly Golightly (Audrey Hepburn) who isn’t quite who she says she is and ends up with a male escort (also a published author somehow) who lives in her building. The story is neither here nor there. This is a mostly aimless movie with a multitude of subplots that makes me wonder if all the girls who have the Audrey Hepburn poster ever actually saw it. If they have, that means they’ve seen the famously, wildly racist Mickey Rooney Japanese character. Not only is his character offensive, it’s also extremely one-dimensional. He only exists to tell Hepburn to keep it down or he’s calling the police. I hate to be a snooze, but I don’t get the hype even if there are some fun sight gags like an overcrowded party, a jumping cat or a pot bursting with rice spraying all over the frame. My favorite parts were learning about New York history from Anna- I didn’t know that JFK Airport used to be called Idlewild or what Automats were (cafeterias where meals came out of vending machines popularized in the 50s). Also, I finally get why it’s called “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.” All these years, I just thought the character was named Tiffany and there was a big breakfast. There is not. IT’S SOLID (IF PROBLEMATIC) BUT I DON’T GET WHY IT’S A CLASSIC (Streaming on Amazon Prime for $3.99).
SNL with Bill Burr: Today is actually SNL’s 45th birthday. A lot has changed since the show’s inception. At the beginning, it was a shaggy, anything goes variety show that bit the hand that fed. Now, it’s an institution that has flashes of irreverence but mostly plays it safe. This week was a small step up from last week but for an election year this hasn’t been an especially inspired season. The cold open with Maya Rudolph as Kamala and Beck Bennett as Mike Pence felt especially tame and more of a rehash of the events that transpired than satire. The bit with Jim Carrey as Biden turning into the fly on Pence’s hair made me facepalm. Burr’s monologue was a major source of controversy this past weekend as it was a bit all over the place. Some jokes were met with silence which is to be expected for a light audience. I actually inadvertently took part in this pointless debate on Twitter tweeting out, “Bill Burr after a bit not working in his monologue and saying, “Plowing ahead” is the most open mic move I’ve ever seen on TV.” Not a super well-written sentence but somehow strangers couldn’t help but defend to Burr’s defense (wondering if they’re Bill Burr-ner accounts). I mean, now I know that it’s a bit Burr does on his podcast but saying, “Plowing ahead” after a joke gets crickets is typically an amateur move and one I’ve done many times myself. Plowing ahead, there were a few fun sketches like the mob boss who isn’t familiar with PC culture or the sports anchor who didn’t know there was a police shooting and was making light of the news or the influencer who didn’t know that his anti-Trump rap would come across as tone deaf were the favorites; interestingly, they were all about tone deaf white dudes. An easy target but perhaps an essential one right now. Weekend Update was on point as well. Che is sharper than ever. Say what you will about the show but a joke like, ““President Trump claimed to have survived the coronavirus. I’m not going to say I’m disappointed, but it’s kind of like when there’s a car crash and the only survivor is the drunk driver,” has real teeth. Jack White rules too, of course (Streaming on Hulu).
Minddog TV’s Sam Tallent Podcast: Earlier this summer, I kept seeing comics recommend Sam Tallent’s “Running the Light.” I bought it and have had it on my shelf for awhile. Somehow, it popped in my head that I should start reading this week. While I’m far from finished, I’ve been finding myself unable to put it down. Wanting to learn more about Sam (I’ve never seen him live), I found a random podcast with him recorded in August talking about the book. It’s a delightful chat with tales of the road like sharing a one-liner with multiple headliners just to keep comedy club staffs on their toes when they hear the same joke week after week, what it’s like staying at Doug Stanhope’s place (He’s a mellow guy), how Mitch Hedberg used to give multiple comics the same jokes so they would come to realize they were hacks when fighting about jokes they thought were their own and how opening a show at the Red Rocks is more of a chore than one would expect as much as it sounds like a treat. This is a quick listen at just over an hour and a nice intro to the book.
This coming Saturday, Anna and I are going to be featured in the All The Laughs Film Festival with our quarantine short “At Home With a Guy From Anonymous.” Yes, the link is just a scroll away.
Be well. Vote early. The New York ballots are strange. Be baffled and amused by them way in advance and get them in ASAP.
See you in the near future
01.) Harmon Leon’s Joke-e-oke: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/764704564
02.) Nick Skardarasy’s Thin Walls: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfSFIrRLHfg
03.) My infamous Bill Burr Tweet: https://twitter.com/MattLevy51/status/1315137259381952513
04.) Matt Nappo’s Sam Tallent podcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoUp-qm0mn4&feature=emb_title
05.) All The Laughs Film Festival Link: https://www.bingewave.com/f/all-the-laughs-atl-comedy-awards/s/unfit-the-new-guy-virtual-theater
